The presidents and Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, who successfully crusaded against apartheid in South Africa and blazed the trail for democracy in his country, cultivated a deep and lasting relationship with the United States and fomented a sea change in bilateral relations between the two nations, dramatically altering the American dynamic with Africa in the process.

“He felt the U.S. relationship to South Africa was vital,” said Princeton Lyman, who served as U.S. ambassador to South Africa when Mandela was first elected. “That the two countries must have a very close relationship, not just economic cooperation but in terms of development in Africa and on the world scene.”

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Mandela died Thursday at age 95, South African President Jacob Zuma announced, but he will remain a defining figure in the history of U.S.-South Africa relations. He was electedas president of South Africa in 1994 after helping to end racial apartheid, serving as the country’s leader through 1999 and maintaining a presence on the global stage for years after.

“I think history will look at his influence as quite profound, not only on U.S.-South Africa relations but also influencing how the U.S. dealt with Africa as a whole,” said John Norris, a foreign policy expert at the Center for American Progress. “The fact that he brought such tremendous moral authority to his position flipped the switch a little bit in terms of how the U.S. looked at the continent. It wasn’t just a place that was underdeveloped with instability and rich natural resources, but a continent where people were taking historical risks to achieve what we’ve embraced in this country.”

Here’s a look at Mandela’s dynamics with the American presidents who have been in office since his rise to political prominence: Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

CLINTON

Mandela was elected in the middle of Clinton’s first term, and the two developed a close relationship that laid the foundation for two decades of solid U.S.-South Africa relations — but at the beginning, that dynamic was far from guaranteed.

“It started off, actually, a little bit rough,” Lyman, who was Clinton’s ambassador to South Africa when Mandela was elected, told POLITICO.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union supported anti-apartheid activity and earned friends in the movement. In contrast, the Reagan administration vetoed apartheid-related sanctions. President George H.W. Bush, however, met with Mandela at the White House in 1990. The two had a warm relationship and spoke often over the phone, Lyman said.

Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, was released in 1990. He entered office four years later with the sense that a substantial aid package from the U.S. would play a key role in further resetting the relationship between the two countries in the post-Cold War world. After Mandela’s election, the U.S. offered up a three-year trade and investment package of $600 million.

“He was expecting … once this election came off, it would be like Camp David, a huge commitment of support,” Lyman said. “And at the time, the aid program was being cut, we came up with much less than he expected … He was expecting railroads, hospitals, big commitments. He was shocked and angry, so when he came on a state visit after the election, it began very frostily.”

But by the end of Mandela’s first state trip as president, in 1994, he and Clinton “were very close,” Lyman said, setting the stage for a fruitful bilateral relationship — even though “Mandela never stopped being unhappy with the aid program. He called it ‘peanuts.’”

The two administrations worked together through a binational commission, chaired by then-Vice Presidents Al Gore and Thabo Mbeki, on a variety of cooperative programs and found common ground in supporting the extension of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, something much of the rest of Africa opposed.

Clinton, who made several references to Mandela in his autobiography, also developed a personal relationship with the South African leader. Mandela showed the American president the cell in which he lived for more than two decades when Clinton took an emotional trip to the country. He also offered comfort during some of the darkest hours of the Clinton presidency.

He encouraged Clinton to persevere even in the face of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and emphasized the power of forgiveness.

“[Mandela] told me he forgave his oppressors because if he didn’t, they would have destroyed him,” Clinton told The Guardian in a 2004 interview. In discussing his own experiences with the scandal, he said, “If you don’t let go, it continues to eat at you.”

Mandela was also in the right place at the right time to cultivate a solid relationship with the U.S., said Larry Diamond, an Africa expert at Stanford and the Hoover Institute.

“He was an icon,” Diamond said. “Everyone wanted to be helpful to South Africa and participate in its reconstruction.”

Diamond said that the U.S. and South Africa have had, on balance, positive relations since Mandela’s presidency, but the “peak” may have been during Clinton’s administration. Their dynamic blossomed at an opportune moment: the Cold War was over and the views Mandela espoused — of tolerance, of democracy, of a “rainbow nation” of diversity — were easy for the U.S. to embrace.

A State Department fact sheet notes that “Since the abolition of apartheid and 1994 democratic elections, the countries have enjoyed a solid bilateral relationship. South Africa is a strategic partner of the United States, particularly in the areas of security and trade.”

“I’d say the main thing he did was put the country on a pragmatic course toward democracy and reconciliation, which made it possible for the U.S. to embrace and engage South Africa in a much more uncomplicated, less contradictory way,” Diamond said, adding, “I think his legacy is huge, and the improvement of U.S.-South African relations is part of it.”

Mandela found a “very willing partner” in Clinton, said Haroon Bhorat, a professor of economics at the University of Cape Town and an economic adviser to South Africa’s minister of finance.

“It was obvious they had a rapport,” Bhorat said. “If you move on to President Bush, you see a relationship that wasn’t as strong as the Clinton-Mandela relationship … Mandela and Clinton knew each other as leaders.”

In that capacity, the two promoted a “steady engagement between the U.S. and South Africa,” which has manifested itself in trade, business, entertainment and academic ties, he said.

“There’s a very, very rich history and bridge that exists between South Africa and the U.S.,” Bhorat said. “If you wanted the jewel in the crown, so to speak, that would be the Mandela-Clinton relationship.”